Increase Your Safety and Application Accuracy at the New PAASS Program

by Scott Bretthauer, NAAA Director of Education and Safety

Upon the performance of each rests the fate of all. If you’re not familiar with this saying, you should be. It’s the PAASS (Professional Aerial Applicators’ Support System) slogan and is used to highlight the damage that a single negative incident can have on the entire agricultural aviation industry. It only takes one accident or drift claim to set off negative media attention and massive government oversight.

That is exactly why PAASS was created: to help reduce ag aviation accidents and drift incidents. PAASS seeks to do so through education as opposed to more rules and regulations. PAASS has been successful at accomplishing this mission. Since PAASS began, ag accidents have been reduced by over 25%, and drift claims are also decreasing. At the time of this writing, however, 11 pilots have lost their lives flying ag this season. PAASS continues the effort to move that number to zero, but we need your commitment to do so. Attend PAASS this winter, learn about flying safer and more accurately, and make safety a top priority next season and beyond.

The 2021–2022 PAASS season is loaded with practical lessons to aid all of us in the industry.

The program will begin with a review of the 2021 ag aviation accidents. The reason for reviewing this year’s accidents upfront is simple—it sets the main purpose for the next four hours of training: to stop accidents. Studying and learning from these accidents reminds us of what happens when safety is not a top priority. The lessons can serve to prevent future accidents of a similar nature. Accidents will be reviewed based on the suspected cause, aircraft type, objects collided with (for controlled flight into terrain accidents) and the state where the accidents occurred.

PAASS will then cover the topic of inadvertent instrument meteorological conditions, or IIMC. IIMC is when a pilot operating under visual flight rules (VFR) inadvertently flies into weather conditions—most commonly fog in ag operations— requiring instruments. From 2011 to 2020, six IIMC accidents involved ag aircraft. Only one of those pilots survived, and PAASS attendees will hear from him so that everyone can learn from his experience.

PAASS will cover how IIMC quickly leads to a degraded visual environment with a loss of all visual cues for coordinated flight. The loss of visibility leads to visual disorientation and vestibular illusions. Vestibular illusions occur when visual references are not available and the inner ear, which handles balance, is fooled because it is not designed for flight. After 20 seconds of continuous movement in one direction, the inner ear “resets” itself regardless of whether the movement has ceased, which leads to the pilot sensing things that aren’t actually happening. PAASS participants will learn how and why these illusions occur, but most importantly, they will learn they can’t be prevented. Therefore, the best strategy for IIMC is avoidance. PAASS will cover things all ag pilots should consider before flying to avoid an IIMC accident. These include their familiarity with the area, the ability to return to the departure runway with a full load, their qualifications and proficiency, and aircraft equipment. PAASS will also cover how to use weather forecasting and basic VFR minimums to avoid taking off when IMC may occur. Pilots need to set personal minimums based on these things and then stick to those minimums no matter the situation.

Ag pilots will also learn about en-route decision triggers, which are predetermined flight conditions based on deteriorating weather conditions that cue the pilot to execute an alternative plan to avoid continuing flight into IMC. The goal is to handle the decision-making on the ground before the pilot is even in the air. The pilot can best decide then, when there’s no customer pressure or other external influences, what they consider to be the conditions at which point they should abandon the mission and turn around. In flight, when those conditions are met, all the pilot needs to do is recognize they’ve occurred and implement their alternative plan. Having decision triggers can prevent plan continuation bias, which was covered in last season’s PAASS Program. Plan continuation bias is a bias toward continuing your original plan despite changing conditions.

While avoidance of IIMC is the best strategy, PAASS will also cover how to recover once IIMC has occurred. Training and proficiency with instruments as well as a properly equipped aircraft are critical to recovery. Three examples of recovery from ag pilots, each with varying instrument flying experience, practicing an IIMC encounter in a flight simulator, will help illustrate this point. To help PAASS participants further learn about IIMC and the importance of avoiding it as the best strategy, they will hear from several pilots who discuss their close calls with IIMC.

Next, the 2021–2022 PAASS Program will discuss how spray boom configuration, nozzle setup and a crosswind can impact the uniformity of an aircraft’s spray pattern and the variation in droplet size across the width of the spray pattern. The research done thus far by the USDA-ARS Aerial Application Technology Research Unit reveals that while an aircraft’s spray pattern may have a uniform droplet size distribution when the aircraft is flown into the wind, it can change dramatically when there is a crosswind. A crosswind can result in an aircraft’s spray pattern having a greater proportion of larger droplets deposited on the windward portion of the aircraft’s spray pattern and a greater proportion of smaller droplets being deposited on the leeward side, as opposed to a more uniform distribution of sizes across the whole pattern when the aircraft is flown in-wind. Participants will also get a quick review of how spray droplet size and aircraft patterns are measured and evaluated, and some guidance on how to conduct their own pattern testing using paper spray collectors.

PAASS will finish with a real-life security example where property was stolen from an aerial application business. Participants will hear from the owner and learn how to better secure their operations to prevent pesticide theft and vandalism. There will also be a short segment on using a gate seal to improve dry application accuracy and a question-and-answer session that will test attendees on their aerial pesticide application knowledge.

PAASS presenters will ensure time is available during the entire program for attendee discussions and sharing of experiences involving issues and practices related to attendees’ ag operations. Just as PAASS attendees will learn from the pilots interviewed for the program, they can learn from each other and come away with new strategies and plans to reduce agricultural aviation accidents and drift incidents.

Attend PAASS this season to make sure you are fully prepared to handle IIMC by setting up personal minimums and en-route decision triggers to avoid it altogether. Also, learn how your spray pattern and droplet size can change depending on wind direction. This knowledge can improve your application accuracy and keep your customers coming back for more aerial applications.

Visit AgAviation.org and check the calendar of events to find dates and locations of state and regional meetings offering the 2021–2022 PAASS Program.